Nottingham Forest withstood a late 10-man Chelsea attack to claim a invaluable Premier League point in a 1-1 draw on a pulsating afternoon in London.

A goalless first half gave way to a frenetic second half as Chris Wood converted Nikola Milenkovic’s header down from James Ward-Prowse’s free-kick to give Forest the lead four minutes after the restart.

Chelsea responded emphatically when Noni Madueke intercepted Cole Palmer’s pass, moved inside and found the bottom corner to restore parity (57′).

Ward-Prowse’s cynical handball to deny a goal-scoring chance rightly resulted in him being sent off for the second time in his career at Stamford Bridge (78′).

Chelsea were searching for a winner when Palmer was brilliantly denied by a double save from Matz Sels, before a scuffle between Marc Cucurella and Neco Williams that saw Enzo Maresca fall on the touchline almost led to a scuffle on both benches.

After 13 minutes of added time and a blatant miss from Joao Felix, Forest earned a deserved point with their performance. Williams could even have scored the late winner himself when he hit the gloves of Robert Sanchez before Sels parried away Christopher Nkunku’s header from Mykhailo Mudryk’s cross.

The result means Chelsea remain in fourth place on 14 points, while Forest are four points behind and in ninth place before the international break.

How Forest competed with Chelsea

Brighton played with a very high line last week and Chelsea took full advantage – but Nottingham Forest sat much deeper and those gaps rarely appeared in a cagey first half.

It took until the 42nd minute for the hosts to have their first shot on target when Enzo Fernandez routinely parried Sels after Madueke’s shot across goal was parried into his path.

At this point, Murillo had come closest to breaking the deadlock after he intercepted a pass from Fernandez and Sanchez deftly parried.

Both teams threatened to take the lead just before half-time when Madueke’s attack was repelled by Palmer, but his shot through a sea of ​​bodies eventually hit the post before being cleared to safety by Sels on the goal line.

Forest were by no means intimidated by their in-form opponents – and after two quick goals in the second half, they were the ones who threatened victory just as much as Chelsea, despite Ward-Prowse’s thoughtless sending off.

The riots on the sidelines led to a Sunday exchange of blows in the final phase. Colwill and Williams got into an argument after Cucurella clashed with his manager Maresca and tensions boiled over.

Palmer’s deft touch gave him the chance to score, but Sels was twice equal to his efforts. Then it was Sanchez’s turn to justify his No.1 status with a superb save to deny Williams’ advance – and he was called into action again when Jota Silva met Ola Aina’s cross and almost pulled the ball away behind him .

Espirito Santo said: “It was a very good football match. The kind of game that everyone can enjoy, that’s for sure. It’s positive because it’s always very difficult to come here and play. It’s a big team effort and the players did it.”

“We had good possession in the first half and the second half was a crazy game with both goalkeepers making big saves. We had one man less, there was mass confusion, yellow cards. It had everything. Both teams (could have won it).”

Forest: Sels was incredible in goal

Nottingham Forest striker Chris Wood:

“We had the chance to win the game. I think we have destroyed them in many ways. Matz Sels was incredible in goal, made some great saves, kept us in the game and gave us a chance to win the game. This is what we do. We fight to win.

“We know they have a good team. Getting to the Bridge will always be a difficult affair. This shows the resilience we are trying to show and we want to keep going and become even bigger and climb the table in the future. That’s what we want.” We want to compete in the top half of the table and beyond. We notice the positive and move on.

“It’s always nice to score goals. It was nice to put us in the lead, it would be nice if we had three points instead of just one.”

“We want to bring these results to the City Stadium but that is no reason to panic. We’re playing good football and doing extremely well and things will click at home, there’s no doubt about that.”

Maresca: Chelsea’s performance was good

Chelsea manager Enzo Maresca told Sky Sports:

“The performance was very good. I think we controlled the game for large parts of the game. And we did it very well. I think the red card made the game more difficult because you think it’s easier with another player. But.” The way they defended was incredible. But the performance was good.

“We knew you weren’t going to score two, three or four times every game. Sometimes you need more, especially against this type of team.”

“They are second in the Premier League with the fewest chances to concede goals. So we knew that, but ultimately we created a significant number of chances today. That’s the most important thing. Sometimes you can score one, two or three goals, but the most important thing is to create chances.

“We’re going into the second international break in fourth place and learning to play different types of games, so of course I’m happy. For me it’s important to see that first.” Away We got 14 points. Today we faced a team that wanted to be aggressive. We can certainly do a lot of things better.”

Nuno’s good away record – Opta stats

• James Ward-Prowse’s red card for Nottingham Forest was his third in the Premier League in 385 games, with two of those three red cards coming against Chelsea at Stamford Bridge – October 2021 and today.
• 10 of Chris Wood’s last 14 goals for Nottingham Forest in the Premier League have come away (71.4 percent), having scored all of his first five goals for the club in the competition at home.
• Only Bryan Roy (24) and Stan Collymore (22) have scored more Premier League goals for Nottingham Forest than Chris Wood (19), while Wood has 10 away goals in the competition, the most of any player for the Tricky Trees combined Bryan Roy ( 10).
• Chelsea’s Cole Palmer created 6 chances against Nottingham Forest, the only time he’s had more chances in the Premier League before – 8 against Manchester United in April 2024. This is the fifth time Palmer has created more than 5 chances in a Premier League game .

History of the game in the statistics…

What’s coming up in the Premier League?